Nomadic Outdoorsman - Heading To Elk Camp

Show Notes

On this episode of The Nomadic Outdoorsman Dan and cameraman Nick Queen record a podcast while they are on the road to elk camp.

Dan and Nick are all packed up and heading west for Dan’s annual elk camp. With a rocky start the two hope to put the speed bumps behind them as the talk about strategies, goals and what Nick should expect on his first hunting adventure in the Rocky Mountains. Dan and Nick will be in the mountains for the next week, joined by Dan’s Brother Josh and 20 other guys they hope to get several big bulls on the ground.

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Show Transcript

[00:00:00] All right, guys, welcome to today's show and on the show with me today, I've got Nick Queen. In fact, we're in a truck driving to Colorado as we record this episode. For the next nine days, we're going to be in the back country finding elk. And then for five of those days, maybe six, we're going to be pursuing some big bulls.

And hopefully if all goes according to plan, we get multiple bulls down. I know in years past, it's been like anywhere from three to as many as seven. Bulls that we take out of camp. If you've listened to last year's episode, you'll know that we shot seven bulls, which was amazing. Five went to new hunters.

In fact, this year I'm taking my brother out and we're going to try to get him on a bull. That's number one priority. But we're going to talk strategy, tips, tricks, tactics, goals, what we're planning for this year's Elk Camp. So let's jump into today's episode with Nick.

Like he was doing [00:01:00] things that were just badass. That was one of the coolest moments of my life. I was really scared, but knowing that Dan had the gun, I did have the rifle, like we would be okay. All

right, guys, welcome to today's show. As promised, Nick and I are in the truck on the way To Colorado. We're currently in the middle of nowhere, Kansas, but we're heading to Elkhunt and Unfortunately, it's been a day. It's been a day. My truck was supposed to be finished your trailer yesterday Sorry, my trailer was supposed to be finished getting brakes and new lights on I put lights on and they did not work at all And after seeing the way that the trailer company wired them, I was like, oh, yeah I did everything right, but it was just so much better looking, more professional, no random connectors, and they didn't get it done yesterday.

I found out an [00:02:00] hour before they were closing that they weren't going to get it done. So we hit the road almost seven hours after we were supposed to. Yeah, we were supposed to leave at five this morning and we left at noon. So that was nice. We've got to go pick up my brother's four wheeler.

Which is in Denver. I told you this whole podcast. You're going to hear that the whole time. Just wait until we get into antelope country. Oh yeah, I've never seen an antelope. Or you're going to see a giant mewly. I'm a freak. And you're going to lose your mind. So for those of you that don't know, I've never been to Colorado.

I've never been to elk hunting. This is a completely new experience for me. I'm heading up here to film with Dan. We bro ed down at Bowfest, as some of you guys know. And just now we're hunting pals, huh? Dude hopefully you're my Apprentice. Oh god. Yeah, not my apprentice my intern.

I'm the intern as Eric hates to be called Yeah, so so he's coming out to film and it's gonna be a wild week So we're going to pick up my brother's four wheeler in Denver and instead of heading [00:03:00] up to my buddy's place and staying the night there We thought you know what we could shave off some hours.

It's gonna be longer driving today But we're gonna shave off hours overall And just head straight to our campsite, which we'll see how it goes. I mean everything's riding really right now It has been the whole time Straps are tight. We've gotten a lot of rain. Yeah, but We're on the road to elk camp and of course as soon as we start record a podcast we run into more rain Yep, just hear some other than the 33s humming in the background.

That would be the ring These things are so loud. So hopefully it doesn't drown out everything but in the headphones right now, it sounds pretty good Yeah, we're going out. We're gonna talk all about kind of strategy what our plans are what our expectations are and With you being out here for the first time, my brother being out here for the first time, it's going to be a lot of learning experiences.

Yep. And this is going to be my [00:04:00] first western big game filmed hunt. I've taken plenty of video in the past and done absolutely nothing with it. I got my buddy's mountain goat hunt on camera. I got a bunch of moose content on camera. And it's all sitting on a hard drive. With nothing done to it and with basically no interviews or explanation, just a bunch of shots of us walking around and hunting stuff.

So I'm pumped in 10 different ways for this trip. Oh yeah, I think the excitement is mutual. For those of you that have went on elk hunts, I'm sure you can look back on your first hunt and remember it very clear. I'm sure you can, the first time you came up here and the excitement that you felt and that's what I'm going through right now.

driving through Kansas have never been through this state before. So it's a lot of cool scenery. A little disappointed that we're gonna be driving up the mountain at night, but to shave off six hours of drive time tomorrow get us set up in camp. [00:05:00] We'll be ready to whenever the boys show up to just jump in and help everybody get everything set up.

I think that it will definitely be a plus. My brother is gonna come out first thing in the morning. It sounds like he's gonna head out around Yeah. And he'll be to us sometime between eight and nine, I would guess. Okay, perfect. And I think we'll do some last minute sightings on the rifles. Yep. Make sure they're both perfectly zeroed at 200 and we're going to be ready to rock.

I don't know yet what we're going to do for rifle situation, to be honest. I'm debating only bringing one rifle for the two of us. Okay. But. He gets first blood, right? I brought two with me. He gets first shot. It's not first blood. If he shoots and misses that animal, it's game on. It is no longer up to him.

So that's the way we work. It's if you've never killed before, you're first on the totem pole, your highest on the totem pole first in order to shoot, if you shoot, then it's the next guy's [00:06:00] opportunity. But we've been in a lot of situations so far where we've had multiple bowls. Maybe not right in front of us, but within shooting range.

And part of me says, no, you know what, we shouldn't leave the rifle behind. We should have two on us at all times. And I think that's probably the route we're gonna go. I think that's smart. It's just carry two. It makes sense. So yeah, basically order of operations out there is to do some scouting.

We're getting out to the unit a day and a half. Technically, we will be to the unit two days ahead of time. Everybody else is going to be out there midday tomorrow, after stopping and grabbing some food. And then, we'll be out there two days ahead of time, which means two days of scouting to figure out where these animals are at, if they're in the normal locations, figure out some sign, maybe check some saddles and see.

Where they're crossing, where they're going to, and I plan on doing pretty intense glassing in the mornings and evenings. Dude, what a shot. I know. Nick's [00:07:00] getting video. You guys are gonna get to see a lot of the stuff that we're talking about in this podcast on the drive when he knocks out the YouTube episode.

It's gonna be sweet, man. I cannot wait for this YouTube episode to launch. Nick's yeah, I do this all the time, so it's not that big of a deal. It is, cause this is really cool scenery that I don't get to film very often, so I'm very excited about. Not just a hunting experience, because I'm, an outdoorsman through and through, but to be able to come out here and capture it all, and that is equally rewarding to me.

Coming out here, I'm not just a lazy film guy that's just going to tell you I'm filming it and not going to help. Obviously I'm a knowledgeable hunter, so I try to help put my two cents in on situations and stuff like that, but the film that we're going to get and being able to... See your face whenever just for example, like when we were hunting in Wisconsin and I made those Instagram, reels relatively quick, it wasn't anything [00:08:00] crazy, but to see your excitement that you get wow, like that looks so cool.

That brings me just as much joy. As honestly, hunting is to be able to bring people, the viewers and even the people that I'm filming, just like the joy of being able to capture that moment and mean something that we'll be able to relive forever. Dude, that's the thing I'm excited about, like to get, I did get a couple shots on camera last year and I was pretty pumped about it.

I've got to show you the one, it was actually pretty sweet, but to actually have footage, like good footage of it. I showed you my new Spotting Scope Adapter yesterday, or this morning. Yeah, that thing is so sick. Super sweet. It hooks right to my Vortex. For anybody interested, I don't have any type of discount code, but the Olin Adapter, go check out Brian Krebs at 2BucksPodcast.

He's got a discount code for you. But I got the phone case and Spotting Scope Adapter, [00:09:00] and so that's going to allow us to record anything way out, because... You could see today looking at the power plant, you can legitimately get good footage from that thing from a mile away when it's fully zoomed in.

Yeah. And in order to get something like that with a camera would be 20, 000. Imagine getting 60 times magnification and a really expensive lens. Yeah. And that's going to be the hardest part is getting, Like far off footage because we just don't have the lenses for it, but it's a learning experience definitely by next season know what we need maybe more for film gear and try to Get that incorporated, but I think for the first time coming out and filming I don't think we'll have a problem filming what we need to film and that spotting scope will be perfect because if we have here Oh, yeah, buddy if we have Time to set up.

Obviously it's hunting so there's always scrambles that [00:10:00] happen, but If we have time to set up on the animal and get a shot off, it'll be really perfect to get that spotting scope out, get it lined in on the animal and then I can take my camera and kind of film what's going on right in the moment around us.

So I think that's the game plan. And when we get to camp, we'll pack my pack geared or either in your pack or whatever gear to be able to just grab stuff and set up within a couple minutes. So that way we're not wasting any time trying to get a camera on these animals. That we have a clear, and I think that you said, when you've always, you've spent all this money trying to film in the past and you just forget about it.

I think it'll be a good idea for us to go through a little game plan so that way that's the first thing that you think about right when we make the plan to how we're going to get this done. And then the next step is, okay, let's get camera gear ready to go. Yeah. See I'm, I've always been a hunter first and a videographer second.

And I've got mad props, or mad respect for Tyler from the Rise Hunt. He's a beast. Hearing him talk [00:11:00] about the fact that he's only ever killed one animal, like one deer, not on camera. Just blows my mind. And I wish I had that kind of determination, but also he's talked about passing up some really nice bucks because he couldn't get it on camera.

Yeah, I couldn't do that. Nope, not for me. I'm with you on that. But having you out here with me, getting to experience this. Sure. And then, also, getting everything on camera is gonna be so sweet. Yeah and not just obviously the kill is a big part of what we're doing, but I feel like, if you break it down, we're out here for seven days some of that's travel, but seven days.

Relative, some of the guys are going to be out there longer, and we're going to be hiking everywhere, seeing, the beautiful outdoors camp vibes, like all of that really plays into the story of what and why we're even doing this in the first place and why we're out here, the [00:12:00] camaraderie, the camp stories, the, just the whole, Hunt isn't just about the kill and so for me like yes I'm very dedicated to trying to get that and if we have time and the opportunity to do it Absolutely, if you have to turn around and shoot, and we missed a kill shot because of it or whatever I think the panic of it and as long as you film a good story around the kill shot I think you can get away with hey, every hunter has been there where All of a sudden you look down and that, that buck's 15 yards in the thicket and you can't get your bow.

It's no different with the camera. I want people, after the video, to want to come elk hunting. Yep. For sure. Absolutely. But, I want them to experience elk camp. Yep. Sure the hunts, riding the four wheelers, glassing, seeing animals. The process. That's all super exciting to me. But the idea of getting people excited about coming out and doing this, not just for a kill shot.

Yep. [00:13:00] Although, we're gonna get those on camera. For sure, I definitely think so. Here's my goal. My goal is to get my brother his first elk. Then, I wanna go after the biggest bull that I've ever chased. I'm not picky as far as I'm not gonna shoot one if it's smaller than my biggest. Sure. But, I know the opportunities that are out here and I think the game plan that I've got in my head and that I've talked to Sean about and that I've talked to my brother about is one that's going to lend itself to opportunity for big bull encounters.

Sure. I think we're going to see them. It might be that we glass them from a mile and a half. And then we go, okay how do we get on them tomorrow? Yep. Because some of the spots that we're glassing from, you can see a long ways. And there might be access routes in different spots that we have to drive around to in the four wheeler and then hike in from the other side, hike in a mile back.

Yeah. I just don't know. What it's going to look like in the moment, but if we find [00:14:00] bulls one evening and we go, okay They came out here like last year We glassed from this to track on a ridge line and we saw bulls every time we glass from there Most of them were over a mile away we kept going up there and we're like, all right Listen as we get closer to the end of season, we're gonna push in and try to get one of these.

Yep But we also knew that there were elk way closer. We just didn't get eyes on them. And then all of a sudden they started presenting themselves and we were able to kill three bulls in two days. Could have been four if we had two shooters the first time, but could have been four bulls in two days from the exact same spot.

And so I'm like, and instead of hiking in a mile and a half. To hopefully still see them or find where they were. We killed bulls at 300 yards from the side by sides. When I say anything can happen out there, anything can happen. Yeah. Where we're camping, it [00:15:00] is huntable property. It's possible that a bear or an elk walks through or that we see them right down the road from where our camp is. That's sick. And... We've seen antelope. We've seen mule deer, does and bucks. We've seen turkey. They had a badger come through one year Like there's all kinds of stuff out there. We've seen grouse dude.

I wish I didn't even look up regulations Grouse man, we've had them they'll stand right off the trail Like you can be walking on a trail and they'll be six feet away. Just looking at you Yeah. And not even run. Oh, and you said that the, where we're camping at, it's like over a million acres, right? Oh, I don't know the exact amount, but a lot, most of these units are like 800, 000 to a million and a half acres.

It's something crazy like that. I don't, maybe I'm way off and I just misremembered hearing, but I think it's like several hundred thousand [00:16:00] closer to a million. Wow. And... It's just, it's wild, dude, it is wild. The amount of landscape, the fact that we can see four different big game animals. I don't know if we would ever see a moose, but dude, I've seen people talk about moose being way out in the Eastern Plains of Colorado.

Not like way far East, but way farther out than you would ever expect them to be. Like not close to willows, not close to creek bottom. So there's no telling what we're going to see out there. I have yet to see a bear, but I'm going to get a bear tag. My brother's got a bear tag and at least two other guys in camp have bear tags.

So that's awesome. That might be a last minute change of plans where someone's yeah, Hey, we've got a bull over here. We saw it today. Like you guys should come back and see if you can get eyes on it tomorrow. And one thing that you said, and I want to like point out too, is you said like you could easily shoot We do a lot of scouting or whatnot, but you can easily shoot the elk from 300 yards from the side by [00:17:00] side, right outside of camp, like whatever.

That doesn't, from my understanding, is that's not the way that like it normally happens. No, but we're just because we're the side by sides and the folders that we're taking, isn't we're going to the other side of a mountain to get on the ridge to be able to hike a couple miles or whatever.

So we're still, there's still a lot of hiking involved. We got bags packed in case we want to stay like in the backcountry. We find a herd of elk and we're like, hey, we're going to stay out there for a couple days. You were telling me last night, there's actually a group of guys for the first three days.

That's what they do. Like they show up at camp, they get camp help, set up, and then the first day they're gone. And you don't hear from them or see them for a couple days, and then they come back with whatever, if they shoot one or whatever. We're going to be doing a bunch of different kinds of hunting, styles of hunting, and we're just whatever works in the moment, and we're hunting in the moment.

If that means we're... getting off the side by side and we're walking 200 yards. Or if that means we're going 10 miles [00:18:00] deep to the next ridge, that's what we're doing. Yeah. It's a matter of one. There's two kinds of ways to hunt, right? You do day hunts or like you go out for the morning, come back for lunch, go back out in the evening or you spike camp where you take all of your gear, everything you need for a day or a couple of days back with you.

Set up a tent in the back country and hunt from there. Yeah. And I like doing both. I really do. I like the versatility of elk hunting as far as the one thing we don't really do is set up over a location, like you would in a tree stand or a saddle. Yeah, and wait. Yeah. It is glassing and putting miles on the ground, whether it be on foot or on a four wheeler.

Yeah. And I will say a couple of the spots that I've got picked out for us to hunt. It's very rare for us to walk a thousand yards without getting eyes on elk. That's cool. And some of these spots, we get eyes on elk from the side by side. How long have you been coming out to this [00:19:00] elk camp specifically?

This will be my fourth year. Now, I did miss two years in there. One year I didn't make it out to Colorado at all. The other year I took some buddies to a unit not that far from here. Yeah. But because it's elk hunting, It's all public land, right? But you don't want to give away your location.

Especially if you're on bulls. You don't want a bunch of people following you out there, hearing the gunshots. And they've had that happen, where it's we consistently bring bulls out from certain areas. And then all of a sudden, you see the next day, we're getting tailgated by four wheelers, and all they're doing is trying to follow us to our spot.

And it's that's not how this, it's not how this works. If you just, if we lead you to elk. You're not going to be a good elk hunter because of it. And

don't get me out, but he like taught me all the way through. Whereas if you're just following taillights on a side by side or a four wheeler and you get out and you're surrounded by elk, [00:20:00] like sure. It might bring meat home for you, but also what kind of reward is that? You're just.

Following someone to their honey hole and shooting the elk that they were going to go after anyways. And unfortunately there's a group of guys, all over, the United States that are like that whether you want to call them lazy or whatever. The Whitetail Woods is the same way.

The, you can, the first thing that a guy does. When he shoots a buck and then post it on Facebook, the next thing you know, like everybody knows where he hunts. So now they're trying to get permission or steal permission or they're like, we had one year on our YouTube channel, we shot a nice buck off of public.

And previously that year we filmed that same buck on a field that we have permission on that you could sit on public. But the ground that we had permission on was private, where we were filming these deer, but you couldn't hunt it because of the thermals. Yeah. And we shot a deer out of it a few weeks later after putting that film up.

Somebody went out and actually got us kicked off to private land because they told the guy they've seen these [00:21:00] guys on YouTube hunt here, they can hunt here, and we didn't kill that deer on that private land. But we have permission on that private land and the guy got all of us kicked out. Now he doesn't let anybody hunt it or around it because so there's always that.

All right. If you're not using TactCam's reveal cell cameras on your hunting property for scouting or monitoring the wildlife, you are seriously missing out. When you pair that with the reveal mobile app, you can see the action. As it's happening, no matter where you are. In fact, I've got trail cameras up in Wisconsin on the land that we hunt.

And not only do I get pictures from those cameras sent to me, I can also track the progress of the camera, the battery life, how much memory is left on the SD card. And I can see what the weather's doing at the time. So I can't think of a better tool for scouting whether it is close to home or in a totally different state.

So if you want to stay tuned into the action, or just get into the action, [00:22:00] go to revealcellcam. com or tactcam. com and use code nomadic. for 10 percent off at checkout. Alright guys, here are a few quick tips to help you increase your gear encounters this fall. A lot of people like to set up on an area because they found a scrape or a rub.

But I'm telling you, you need to put more of the puzzle pieces together. If you can find a scrape line or a rub line, Especially one that comes to or from water, bedding, or a food source, that is going to tell you a lot of deer are using it and not just one nocturnal buck. Also, don't be afraid to take the day off from hunting and do a scouting mission instead.

If you can set up from a distance and glass the area that you're hoping to hunt, you might see exactly where the deer are coming in and out without just walking in and randomly setting up in a tree hoping that a deer comes through. And if you want to save money on the right optics to get the job done, right?

Head [00:23:00] over to euro optic. com and use code nomadic 10 at checkout. Now let's get back to the show presented by Vortex.

Dude, I've heard so many stories of that where guys go out and they hunt it. They're successful. Somebody gets, but heard about it. And then they'll go and trash your character to the landowner. And get everybody kicked off and now that person doesn't allow hunting access at all because of a feud that Shouldn't have happened in the first place.

Yep, and it's like before you go and start trash talking other hunters to a landowner Think about this if you were the landowner and all of a sudden there's a dispute between two people who want to hunt your property Are you really gonna pick a side or are you just gonna be like, dude, I don't want any drama, and nobody hunts here.

Yeah. For those of you that have kids, if your two kids get into argument, do you really care who's right or wrong? Or you just want 'em to stop? You want 'em to stop. You just want 'em to stop. Yep. [00:24:00] And it's oh, they're fighting over the iPad, or they're fighting over a toy. It's okay, neither of you can it now yet.

See ya. And it's unfortunate that's what it's come to. But like you said, what reward is that? You didn't gain anything knowledge wise. Dude, social media scouting doesn't, it might be a temporary benefit to you, but long term it's not gonna work. If you're just poaching people's Instagram accounts, hoping to steal their spot that's just not really beneficial to anybody.

Anyways. And you don't learn, like you said, you don't, you're not learning No. The... Like my so I've never in my wildest dreams that I think I would be coming out here hunting an elk like this is a Honestly, like a dream hunt for me for sure, and One thing that I was telling my buddies they're all like man.

I'm so pumped for you jealous, but so pumped, and I told my buddy I was like dude like in hindsight like this is awesome for me personally on a whole other level because I have zero expectation to perform other [00:25:00] than the camera and I can just soak all this information that you guys are going to give me from being out here for the next seven days in a safe environment with dudes that have been out here that know what they're doing and that, in the future I can bring, my kids and my friends and family to learn how to do this.

You know what I mean? With the things that I'm learning from you. If I came out here and got on my four wheeler as a weirdo and followed you around and then hunted your spots next year, I learned nothing other than where to pull the trigger at because next year them elk aren't going to be in that spot.

How did they find that spot? They scouted it. They had the knowledge to find where the elk were going to be because of weather conditions or wind or, whatever. And so you don't learn anything by what you said social media scouting or. Following somebody's truck around. Yeah, it just I feel like the best thing that you can do if you want to get into western hunting is go [00:26:00] out with somebody who knows what they're doing.

Yeah, go help with a buddy. Get pointers, but be willing to learn more than what they teach you. Yep. Learn what the ground teaches you, learn what the land teaches you, what the animals teach you, what the weather teaches you. And when you get out there, you're going to start to see patterns and trends that the elk do.

If it's unseen... Unseasonably warm. If it's 70 degrees, they're going to go bed down in the shade before they normally would versus if it's snowing and a pretty firm wind, you might see those elk on their feet, even though you think, Oh, dude, they're going to hunker down, they're going to be hanging out under a cedar tree or under a pine tree or in a thicket.

And it's they're getting their winter coats on already. Like out West, the temperatures are way different. Then in the Midwest. Oh, yeah, and especially once you get it elevation these elk are gearing up for winter And they're gonna be eating a lot of food right now. It's post rut, right? It's post rut so [00:27:00] those bulls are already trying to gain more weight Yeah, and recoup what they lost chasing elk and fighting off other bulls and wrangling cows it's the type of thing where the more you're out there whether you have a tag in your pocket or you're filming, or you're just out there to help haul meat.

Get in with somebody who does it, and you're like, dude, I just want to learn. Can I come with? I'll never hunt this place. I will never hunt this place. I just want to learn. Yeah. Even if you're buddies, then, you go out, I'm gonna help you carry meat, and be a camp buddy, and hang out, a guy that, can go out on the mountain and learn, and then, on top of that If you're out there with a buddy and you learn and you guys have fun together and stuff like that, you're going to get invited back.

You know what I mean? And he's not going to care. You know what I mean? And, there's spots that I hunt, whitetail, that I've brought friends in. And I actually just here recently I've been taking a buddy out who's had some bad luck and he doesn't know public. And I've taken him to some really good spots.[00:28:00]

And I just told him look man, you're learning I don't care to show you these spots. Don't take anybody else out here and if you plan on hunting out here in one of these spots, holler at me. Let me know beforehand if I'm hunting in there. I got buddies that I've, I actually coordinate with because we hunt the same public, but we don't scout together.

And so if I find a buck, like a lot of the times I'm calling my friends like, Hey man, like, where are you hunting? Where are you chasing bucks at? Because I just found a deer here and I've had it where. My buddy has been on that deer since, September. So I'm backing off because, he found him first, whatever.

So dude, be courteous. Really in all that you do be courteous to the people, and the people that you don't, the landowners and people using public it's just going to benefit everybody if you go about it that way, but this is going to be a sweet year. I just feel it. It was a harsh winter last year.

In my mind, it's I know there's a lot of units in Colorado that [00:29:00] had bad winter kill, but at the same time, a lot of snow in my mind for a healthy bull is a good thing. Come spring. Yeah. There's more water. There's hopefully more plant growth, more food. They just went through a harsh winter.

Hopefully they're putting on a lot of weight. Yep. And. I just, dude, I'm really hopeful. I've seen a lot of pictures and heard a lot of stories about great bulls being killed this year. And in talking with the other guys, like everybody, if you've listened to the podcast for a long time, you know who Sean Lischinsky is, who Shane Lischinsky is a bunch of the guys from the crew were on the podcast last year and we've been talking and strategizing and figuring out like, Hey, who's going where, but a lot of that's going to be determined.

Tomorrow and the next day when we go out and scout. Yeah I don't want to say I treat it like a new hunt every year, but I will definitely Completely change my plan [00:30:00] based on what a couple days of scouting tells me. Yeah. And I think that's How do I explain it? I think that's the adaptability that I can Like this kind of hunting suits like how I like to hunt whitetails because i'm that way I try to not let myself get Drug into a cycle where I'm doing the same thing over again.

I'm not trying to hunt what I think the deer are gonna do or what the deer should be doing this time of year. If I go out and scout and the deer are telling me that they're hitting acorns, but this time of year they really should be in a green pasture somewhere. They're hitting acorns, so that's what you hunt.

And being adaptable, I think, is what kills animals and obviously in all spectrums of hunting. Whether that be bear, elk, whitetail mule deer, like being able to have a game plan, but know when and how to change that game plan. Yeah. Shout out Vortex. We're on the side of the road here.

JoeBobOutfitters. com. Exit 159. [00:31:00] Next to the Vortex the goal symbol. But the whole thing is you don't. Leave elk to find elk. Yep. You've got to go where the why you've got to go where the elk are I know I should probably stop this podcast and answer that but I'll call her back here in a little bit I just think that if we figure out where elk are we're gonna go after them Yeah, if we go to a spot and we really think that we should hang out there, but there's no elk I don't think it is like what's the point?

What's the point of staying there? You know what I mean? Yeah, like we're not gonna sit I don't sit for hours and hours from one spot hoping that the elk show up. I go until I find elk and then I decide if it's a herd that I'm gonna make a play on or if there's a bull that I'm gonna make a play on. And if there's not, then we continue.

And we find more elk. Yep. And it's, man, dude, elk hunting is just a different beast. Yeah. And I'm super [00:32:00] excited. And I haven't gun hunted in years. Not even really even been around it. So that's a whole other not that it makes it, quote unquote, easier, in a sense, but that'll be nice, in my eyes, not have to, I'm always scouting and stuff to bring deer, try to get deer within 40 yards of you.

Yeah. Knowing that we can reach out and touch them, that kind of levels the playing field just a little bit. It's a whole different ball game with a rifle. Yeah. Than it is with a bow. What did you say that the statistic was out here? I think Colorado as a whole for archery is like 3 percent success rate and I mean I've heard that statistic a bunch I don't know how accurate it is like in recent years.

I want to say the first time I heard that was quite a while ago Yeah, but now I'm like I could see it, And if you think about it, I bet you a lot of those archery success stories come from guys who know what they're doing Not to deter anybody from coming out here and [00:33:00] trying it themselves. Yeah.

But you're not gonna be consistent at it until you get good at it and you have some experience under your belt. But it's just like whitetail hunting. Yeah. Think about what percentage of booners are killed by people who have already killed a booner. Yeah. You know what I mean? Way higher. Your odds go up once you've done it once.

Yeah. Or if you're hunting a spot where there's that many big ones. Yep. And as you learn an area, stick with it, and if the area sucks, and you can't figure it out, or you just don't find the animals, or it's too high pressure, or whatever, move on. But, there's a lot of strategies that we've implemented, and that I've learned from the guys that I hunt with, and that I've figured out on my own.

And, one of those is, if you're in a high traffic area, if there's a lot of people out there, It doesn't necessarily mean that all the elk are pushed out and have gone deeper into public. I have seen multiple [00:34:00] times where bulls and cows and mule deer will hang out right underneath the two track. I'm talking like you get out on a finger and you're glassing across the valley and you look back and I've seen bulls 50 yards below the side by side.

That's wild. But they feel safe there. Think about it with whitetails. How many whitetail do you think are bedded in medians? Yep. Oh yeah. Throughout the Midwest when there's, a 150 yard strip of timber in between the highways. I bet there's a ton. Even though it's a high traffic area for vehicles and human presence, they feel safe there.

They know hey, as long as I don't go over there, I'm good. Are, I'm guessing here, but are the, and I'm asking. Whitetail seem, at least in a lot of the public that I hunt you don't have to go deep for these deer. A lot of them are, I've killed a couple good deer, you can see the [00:35:00] road and the parking lot.

And they bed in a manner and move in a manner in which they can monitor the, the the access points or stuff like that. Or elk, any similar. Like, where they watch maybe an access point or... It's a high access point for hikers, so they don't care. I think, to answer your question, the elk learn our activity as much as we learn their activity.

Sure. They are patterning us just like we're patterning them. Sure. And they have to do that for their survival. Yeah. Yeah. It only makes sense. These elk, they can distinguish the difference between a horse walking with a person on its back, a side by side. They know if you're driving a side by side and you stop it and you're right there.

They know your footsteps. They know they have such heightened senses and awareness in comparison to what we have. And I know, if you're listening to this podcast and you're like, this is all elementary. Oh, I'm completely elementary right now. I think that people [00:36:00] make hunting certain species or certain things harder than it needs to be.

Oh, yeah. Once they're comfortable with human activity... They're gonna stay comfortable, and they will allow a lot more than what you think if they're in a spot that they feel safe. Yep. If they feel safe, they're gonna act, not act like wild animals. They're gonna act safe. You're right. And that might mean you walking around them and not even knowing that they're there.

Oh, yeah. Because they're tucked in a thicket or in some of this country the roads are so steep that you will never See the elk on your same hillside like, yeah, my buddy, Sean told me that first year he goes, if you're hunting an elk, you have to hunt it from the ridge over, you cannot hunt it from the same hillside.

And I was like, what are you talking about? That's a closer shot. It makes more sense. Like you want to get close to him. You want, and he's no, just wait till you get out there. Wait till you see it. [00:37:00] And then you realize how much brushes is there. Yeah. And it's Oh, wait a minute. You're right.

If this brush is six feet tall or five feet tall, and I'm on the same hillside as an elk, and there's even the slightest finger or the slightest like ridgeline coming down, you'll never see it. Yep. I told my buddy Ryan that a couple of years ago, hunting out here. And he's Oh, okay. He's an archery hunter.

So his initial thought is like, man, I got to get close to these elk. We were on a rifle hunt. And he sees this elk from, I don't remember how many, maybe 400 yards away, and he went across the valley and got close to it, took his shoe, took his boots off, was walking in his socks, getting closer and closer to this elk.

You know what happened? He got close to this elk with within a hundred yards. I can't remember exactly how far. I wanna say it was like 20 or 40 yards from this elk. Dang. All he could see were the ears and antlers [00:38:00] and it's it's so thick. It's not like shooting lanes. It's not like row pines.

It's not these are mountains where things grow wherever they want to grow. And you just can't hunt them like that with a rifle unless you want to get within bow range, like maybe then, but the wind shift, the thermals, and probably during the rut is probably a little bit easier to do. They're a little bit more dumb and then they're responding to calls and other elk.

So they're not as inclined to take off running from you if you get within a hundred yards of them kind of deal. Yeah But the thing is where there's an elk There's probably multiple and that's the one thing that people need to understand like you might be making a play on a bull But there could be 60 cows Across the valley watching you.

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I've watched elk bust from a hunter 850 yards away [00:42:00] on a totally different ridgeline. It would have taken an hour for this hunter to get all the way down the mountain, all the way back up to where those cows were. But. These were guys I didn't know, I just saw them, and they were walking up on the ridgeline silhouetting themselves, and I watched the mountain erupt with elk, and they all took off.

And it's any bull in that valley just went to the darkest, nastiest spot that you could find to get away from it, or just got out of there quickly. And I've watched elk go a mile. In a matter of minutes, all the way across the valley to a totally different mountain range. They're forest horses, is what they are.

If you put too much pressure on them, they're gone. If they don't feel safe where you brought them from. That's Cam Haines whole deal, ain't it? That's why he trains the way he does, is so that he can try to keep up with the elk when they crest a ridge. He's gotta get up there with them. Bro, I wouldn't be surprised if that guy could.

He's crazy, man. Oh yeah, he's mentally not okay. In a good [00:43:00] way, calm down. I'm not Get a chase down milk. I'll tell you that right now, man. I'm in good shape and I work out So I'm not worried about that Packing out will be to me like I heard this. I don't remember where a podcast somewhere I want to say it was like maybe it was a Joe Rogan podcast.

I'm not sure but anyways He said like you'll do things that are like in the moment not fun but you you're suffering, and then you'll, but when you remember it, you'll remember it with joy. Yeah. You suffered, oh, that was Steve Rinell. Yeah. It was saying that. It's type two fun versus type one fun.

Yeah. And I do enjoy that. Yes oh for example, when we were looking for your deer that, me and you shot out in Wisconsin or whatever the emotion of it all, And then we just, we've spent three days kayaking back and forth, where we finally shot the deer.

It's been [00:44:00] two days since we've shot the deer. It's pouring ass rain with this deer circling us. We got a dog that can't find it. I was pissed. I was not having a good time. And, but in the moment you didn't know that. You know what I mean? I wasn't complaining, crying, or whatever.

Yes, I was mad and upset. The whole emotion of everything, like we were talking about last night. But... I like that suffer and it shows me who I am for sure, because to me, I feel if you don't come out here and push yourself and do things that are hard and do things that are going to push you to a breaking point, then for one, you don't know where that breaking point is.

And for two, you find out who you are when, and who the people you have around you are when shit hits the fan and when it's hard and it's rugged and it's nasty and it's. It's, 30 degrees and we're packing, a giant elk out of a six mile, hike in or whatever. So that to me yes, I'll probably cry or whatever the, and my feet are going to hurt them, [00:45:00] blisters, whatever.

But when I go home, I'm going to remember that, very fondly. Absolutely. I'm excited for that specifically, honestly, because I feel like this is a huge test. Just out the doors in general, but like the mountains is a whole other it you know, it'll make you a man It's what I've heard those moments when you are packing out And you just don't feel like you can take another step or you do end up having to take a break And then you're like dude, I do not want to get up at all, but you force yourself up Yep and you start going again and then you finally get back to the side by side or the four wheeler with An empty pack or a full pack.

Sure. It doesn't really matter. It's grueling work no matter what, but it's I look back on those moments and the feeling that I have thinking about those moments is some of the greatest stuff. I honestly look back at a [00:46:00] certain spot on this mountain that I've climbed every single year, sometimes multiple times.

And I know that spot. And when I think about it, It's one of my favorite places on Earth. It is in the middle of one of the toughest hikes I've ever done. And I've had to do it four times now with elk in my pack. And it's, sometimes it's mine, sometimes it's other people's. But I look back on that and I remember that more fondly than pulling the trigger.

The pulling the trigger, you don't have necessarily a clear mind when you do it. You know what I mean? Your emotions are going, your adrenaline's going. And it's all kind of a blur sometimes, and I love, don't get me wrong, do not get me wrong on this, I love that moment where I squeeze the trigger, I hear the whack, and I'm like, all of this hard work paid off, but the grind of it is where the reward is for [00:47:00] me, like knowing that I worked hard at it in order to make it happen, I mean it's the equivalent of, you building your own house, yeah.

Versus somebody else doing it for you and you just like you just buying a house, right? Buying a house. Super awesome You work hard at building your own house. It's so much more rewarding when you move in anything that you have to put, you sweat equity into I think makes you just appreciate it And then not to mention we're getting this meat that is honestly amazing And the reward of that and knowing how hard you had to work and that you suffered for it makes it, like I said, you just look back on it fondly.

And like I said, I think, not that you have something to prove, but I feel like every man you can talk all you want about being a badass. I've seen guys in the military that are, air quotes, [00:48:00] badasses. And the moment that they would get shot at are gonna run or not be able to move. You know what I mean?

Yeah. And you don't know until you're there. And I think like this to me is a huge proving point that, you can do something that is incredibly hard, stressful and Mother Nature is not forgiving. Like it's gonna be brutal. It's gonna be cold, colder than what we thought. Originally you said it was gonna be, 40s in the day, maybe 30, 20 at night and it's looking more like it's going to be teens at night and 30 in the day that's an added element of hardness, you're in the mountains, we're going to be hiking, like rugged terrain, now you got to, get an elk out and get it back to camp, like all of that is if you want to call it like a proving grounds, not to prove it, I don't care to prove it to you or to anybody else that I can do this, but to prove it to yourself.

You That you're strong enough. And when you get home, [00:49:00] I take at least me personally. Like I take those moments of like how I whitetail hunt. Most guys won't do, I have buddies that know that I would help them kill deer, but will not come and hunt with me because they would rather go to their ladder stand at their private piece and wake up at six.

And being there, stand by 6 30, then get up at three because we've got to be there before. So we can kayak around the backside and then we got to hike a hill a half a mile. That's not even close to what we're doing out here. Yeah. And I take pride in that. And it, when I face something in my life, if you can hustle those situations and you can do something this hard like hunting elk.

Yeah. I think it's a big proving point to yourself that you're always gonna have a mountain to climb in your life I don't care how much money you have, or don't have, or problems that you have, everyone has something that they have to climb. And I think this is a really good way to, for a [00:50:00] man to really prove that to himself that he's capable of suffering and being successful.

Dude, we're gonna have to fight the elements, terrain. physical barriers, mental barriers that we put on ourselves. Elk hunting will test you in ways that you haven't thought of. And that is what I'm most excited about. Dude. It's awesome. Yeah. I look forward to coming back to camp. Absolutely. Trashed.

It's just the greatest feeling because you think you've got nothing left and then you get back to camp. And you stay up till midnight. You've got new life. You really do. It's very rare that I go to bed early at elk camp and I'm always getting up early. You're right. Yep. But... And you don't think about like even at deer camp, we got, I would say we probably got less sleep than I normally get at home and I'm not a sleeper, but I slept the best at deer camp in my tent because I was spent. I was [00:51:00] tired, we were running on no sleep and then you start adding The filming and editing and producing and getting content out and staying up super late because Tom wants to do a podcast at midnight Yeah, exactly.

So but that's the the grind of it that I wouldn't change. Yeah Dude, it's gonna be wild man. You're gonna get hooked for sure and I'm looking forward to doing it with a bow eventually That'll be fun. I think that's gonna be great. Count me in. It's just difficult. I mean It's one thing for me to go on trips, whitetail hunting, close to home, where I can go back and see my wife and kids, or they can come with me, and then I'm back to see them every night.

But being away for nine sometimes this trip is a 13 day trip for me. Yep. And that's something that I don't care for. I don't want to be away from my wife and kids. Yeah. I would love it if they were at a hotel just down the street. Or with us. Or with us. It [00:52:00] just happens that, elk camp, it's not a spot.

My kids are in school and unfortunately they're not. And so I don't want to be gone that long, but knowing what I'm about to get into, knowing the hard work that I'm about to put in the potential for reward at the end of it all. And dude, I just can't give this up, man. I really can't, and I can't substitute this hunt specifically for an archery hunt.

Yeah, so I don't know when I'll ever hunt elk in Colorado with my bow well and like from talking to you I want to clarify this if you're getting the wrong idea here this the reason You can't give this up isn't because your possibility of shooting an elk is way higher with a gun And you don't want to spend the money to go archery elk and be unsuccessful.

I think the biggest reason you wouldn't want to give this up is because of the camp. Oh, the camaraderie of it. Yeah, I love coming to this elk camp and it's awesome that I finally get [00:53:00] to share it with somebody else. Yeah. Or two people. I've always wanted to bring my brother. I said, if I can ever bring somebody, it's going to be my brother.

And he can come out this year. And then, because you're not hunting, sorry, Nick, but if you were carrying a rifle this week, they would not have let you come to camp. Oh yeah, I'm aware of that. But, now that you come out and film, they're gonna be like, oh, dude, next year... But even if next year, I don't, I'm perfectly content with the next couple years, even if just filming.

I get just as much enjoyment as that, and maybe when it's my time, it'll be right, and it'll happen. Listen, if I told you, whitetails with your bow, end of October, beginning of November, or come out and rifle hunt elk... What are you choosing? You don't want to ask me that question. I already told you. I think this is the hardest.

Listen, I think I know the answer, but I think that answer might change after this week. So that'll be the question. Right now, man, for this being my first time, I think that's a big reason why I was ready to just go. You know what I mean? Yeah. Because I, for [00:54:00] those of you that don't know, this wasn't something that we've planned for a long time.

Once we linked up. We solidified this a week ago. Yeah, once we linked up at Wisconsin and you were like, we met at Bowfest and we're friends, don't get me wrong or anything, but sharing camp, especially in elk camp, where you have to suffer you gotta know that you can hang out with somebody in a tree and you guys are gonna be cool and you can get through, you know what I mean, a quote unquote a shitty time together and not be a battle or whatever, right?

So I think that kind of solidified itself at our Wisconsin camp, that oh yeah since we hunted together, it made it pretty easy to be like, oh yeah, I could go share camp with this guy, cause that's a big thing. But. To be honest, if this wasn't like my first time coming out here, I would have a really hard time leaving.

This is my favorite week to hunt whitetails. That last week of October is just fire flame to me. Yeah, but I really want to do this. I've always wanted to come out here. I have the opportunity. I'm not one to give up opportunities. And like you said, maybe at the end of [00:55:00] camp. That might change. It depends on how mean these guys are to me.

You gotta get on Whitetails earlier than the end of October. That's all, it just means you have to be a better hunter. I need to suck less Nick. You gotta be better. We don't get September where I'm from. Whoa. We gotta October 1 start. It sucks. That's why I'm not very interested in early season because at that, if you start patterning your bucks September By the time we can hunt them, they're different, and they're so much different October 1 that it's really hard to, honestly, on public ground, if you don't have all the noxious time that you want, or a million cell cameras, which I'm not a cell cam guy don't look down on me, I'm just not a cell cam guy it's really hard to do.

So I look forward to finding my buck mid October. I know where a lot of bucks are from years past and then pushing in to that late October, early November. I really like late November too, early December, but like you said, maybe after camp, [00:56:00] seeing the scenery and the camp vibes and everything I'm already not looking forward to digging this damn latrine for everybody.

Dude, apparently new guys have to, here's the deal though, who's going to film digging the trench? There's going to be for sure two other new guys at camp this year. Okay. So I might be able to pull the I'm filming card? The problem is, we're gonna be there first. Oh, okay, so it's me. And if we need one...

Oh, dude, I don't even have a shovel. I need to see if my brother is bringing a shovel. If not, we go poop at the last gas stop tonight, and then tomorrow we hold it until they get there and we can dig a hole. I can go shit in the woods somewhere, I'm not that mad about it. We just like to dig a deep hole and bury it.

Yeah, it's nice. You just don't, we dig a deep hole. Yeah. We set up a pop up, like a ground blind. Yeah, I showed you, you had a little, or you showed me a little, like tent kind of thing deal made. Yep. The shitter tent. Here's my prediction. Okay, let's hear it. In the first two days, my brother is going to have a bull down.[00:57:00]

Counting tomorrow? No. From hunting. The first two days of the hunt, Saturday and Sunday. By Sunday. Tomorrow is Thursday. Correct. And Friday is going to be, Thursday night, Friday is going to be scout mainly. Yes. Okay. That's all, Thursday and Friday are camp set up and scouting. Okay. And we're probably not even going to bring a gun with us or how do you do that?

No. You don't bring a gun with you scouting. Okay. We're just going to hit the ridges, glass, maybe check out some new territory. Sure. But we're just going to be doing a lot of optic scouting. And then... Saturday, like Friday night, we're going to have a game plan of what we're doing Saturday morning.

Yep. And then hopefully we go and execute that game plan successfully. My prediction is that my brother has an elk down by end of day on Sunday. Okay. My, my other prediction is that I've also gotten elk down at the latest Tuesday, but I'm [00:58:00] saying maybe Monday. Okay. And we're going to be packing out meat and then helping other people get on elk.

Yeah. So I don't think. I don't think we're going to hunt with a big group this year. I think it's going to be a couple of us going out, like me, you, my brother, maybe me, you, my brother, and Sean. I think we're going to scout with more people, like Shane, Fish, Thad, several other people, we'll see. But we're going to scout and then get, basically, try to help everyone get a game plan that hopefully has a high success rate or a high chance of success.

So I'm with that. Those are my predictions. We're gonna find out tomorrow when we record another podcast What everyone's predictions are for I'll camp or maybe we'll take tomorrow off from podcasting and do it on Friday Right before the hunt. I really doing that where everyone's hey, what's the game plan for tomorrow jacked up?

You probably seen some elk by then [00:59:00] maybe by then I'll be totally Game to lose my last week of October every year listen if I could say what I want to happen It would be that my brother and I both have an elk down by Sunday night But really by Sunday midday, and then we could spend the next three and a half days With other guys helping other people that'll be fun, but packouts either way like we're gonna help people pack out, but hopefully We get our pack outs out of the way first and then we get to hang out and just help get on elk For other people and help pack out elk once they get on them and see and that's one thing like coming From like being a whitetail guy and hunting so alone, just you know doing you know lone wolf style and just being out there to coming into a camp like this Like I think that's sick. Yeah, because that's my mentality with whitetail A lot of my friends and stuff like that, that like I'm pretty close with, like I share stuff with dude, get a call, man, I got a really bad [01:00:00] wind.

You think I should go in there and hunt? Dude, you got a perfect wind to go in there. I can't hunt him this weekend. He's big. Go shoot it. Like that. I'm cool with that. You know what I mean? So I think that's a really cool aspect that I'm not used to is going into elk camp and it being such a, everybody helping each other out.

And I'm sure everyone's got their spots and that they like, or, whatever that they've, adventure to and have it's become, their thing. But the camaraderie of it, I think is, I'm looking forward to all of it, but the grind, the learning a lot about myself, that's my expectation of myself is to learn as much as possible and to learn about myself and what I'm capable of.

And then on top of that, being able to capture all of this and be able to put it on YouTube for. You're followers and let them see dude, from an outsider coming in to your friend group like we haven't known each other for years and stuff like that, like you're just, you're an awesome guy, you're super helpful, you're funny[01:01:00] yes, you to kill stuff and you're, you have a competitive side to you, but you're willing to set aside it.

What you're doing or what you have going on or whatever to help the next guy and tack, just like when we were hunting the island, like we could have easily just told everybody, stay away. We're trying to kill a big bucket here and we were like, no dude, like if we rattle, they could come to you.

We were trying to put other guys on it. Dude, the day one, you're like, we need to sit six guys in this thing. I hate solo spots. I am not the guy to find animals and then shy away from getting. I'm not just gonna broadcast it to the world, but when I find animals, I enjoy other people having success, especially if it's their first time.

So it's if I get in a spot, 70 acres is more than I can hunt by myself. Yeah, I'm gonna put myself in a good spot, but there's five other good spots, and I can't hunt those with my bow when I'm hunting the one that I'm at. And if I can get other people out there, and maybe somebody else gets an arrow in a deer.[01:02:00]

Why would I hide that and keep it for myself? I've already told a couple different people like, dude, next year, I've got a spot for you on that island. Like people from the group next year, when you come out, you need to come and hunt the island. And I'll put you in a good spot that we found when we were out there.

And I get just as excited. Like when I'm sitting in the tree stand and I'm hunting around other people the whole time, if I'm not seeing deer, I'm hoping to get that text message or to hear that gunshot. And it's who was it? Yeah. Who got it? When I hunt with my family in Wisconsin, it's the same thing.

I'm sitting in there and I'm like, all right, I'm not seeing a lot of deer, but I really hope I hear a gun go off soon. Yeah. Yep. Because that means somebody's seen deer. And we're already texting, talking like, Hey, you guys seen anything? Hey, I've seen this many man is dead over here, whatever.

Or, Hey, does anybody have any extra hand warmers? Because I am freezing cold right now, but. I just love, I love when people are successful [01:03:00] at hunting. Yeah. It just, it's exciting for, it's exciting for everybody, not just them. You know what I mean? Yep. Now, Especially first timers. I will say there might be a little bit of dang it, are you serious?

If we went out there, if we hunted that hard on the island and all of a sudden, I said, Hey, if you need a place to hunt, come hang in this tree and then they shoot the buck that I was hoping to see, I'm going to be so pumped to actually see that buck on the ground, but there is going to be that like, dang, dude, got him.

I was hoping to have an encounter with him or another encounter. Where I was going with that is like to be brought on to your team, if you will and be able to help you and help showcase. What you do and your mentality and your personality. We're very similar in that aspect anyways.

To be able to show that to people brings me a lot of joy because I know I'm not here filming for some asshole that, is going to be screaming at me on the side of the mountain because [01:04:00] I'm not getting the shot right or, you're, you know what I'm saying?

And that, that's cool for me. And then it makes me want to perform because... I know it's important to you, not only on the side of yes, you want to be successful and you want this to look good. But the biggest reason that you want to bring content to people, it's the same reason I want to bring content to people is to motivate you to get in the woods, to help you and to be a guy that you can call, refer to, watch a video and learn and be like, man, I'm successful.

And I went out here and I listened to Dan's podcast. It got me pumped up. I went and watched that YouTube video and you know what? I saved my money. I got an elk tag and I went out with the boys and we did it like, you know what I mean? And to be that reason that someone bought a tag and that somebody was successful and giving back to the hunting community and getting new hunters involved in the community, that's what.

It's all about for you and that lines up with exactly [01:05:00] what I want to do. Dude, there's nothing more rewarding than the messages I get and I need to start asking permission to post them because I've had a couple people reach out and they're like, dude, after listening to this podcast specifically, like this episode, it made me go and.

Get my license and get back out in the woods. Yeah, like I hadn't been out there and I missed it or right, dude I've never done this and hearing you talk about it made me really want to try it. And so I went and I Hunted a different state than I ever have or hunted a different species and that to me.

I'm like, yes, Yes, like this is why I don't share stories to brag about my success. No I share stories for entertainment and to hopefully encourage other people that there's stuff out there that you never thought you could do that you can't. And I'm not just saying the physical side of it, but just opportunities.

Like you can go and hunt almost any state right now. It might not be for the exact [01:06:00] species you want, but I would be surprised if any state Doesn't have something. Doesn't have some type of over the counter outdoor opportunity. Fishing, hunting. Yep. Like you can go and you can make it the adventure you wanted.

For sure. You can make it as easy Yeah. Or as hard as you want. Yep. As expensive or as cheap as you want. Absolutely. Obviously minus the tag sale. Sure. But other than that, you've got a lot of control over how much you're gonna spend. Yeah. How much time you're gonna be out there, where you're gonna go, what you're gonna hunt.

And so hopefully this podcast, podcast like it, podcasts that we do this week at Elk Camp, get the videos, people fired up. Yeah. And. Then to top it all off at the end of the week, hopefully we've got solid youtube video or multiple youtube videos that we can share with people have a lot of content There's going to be a lot of content.

Yes, and maybe even a whole youtube episode of like Behind the scenes a bunch of stuff that [01:07:00] we're not supposed to show you, but we're gonna show you maybe some infirmature stuff This is not a this is me. Yeah, this is not a PC or a PG. Oh, yeah I got called in that what do you say that little ass hat that you're hanging out with and the guy don't even know Me, dude, you better be ready to dish it out and take it.

Oh all day. Yeah, I was in the military brother I can take it. Oh, yeah, there's no We're going to wrap this one up. I see a gas station. I'm at 80 miles and 80 miles is not a lot of gas when you're in the middle of Kansas and you don't know where the next gas station is. It's 6. 50 right now and we're probably going to be pulling in, we'll be pulling into camp to what?

Around 1 in the morning, 2 in the morning? 2, 3 in the morning. So we got a lot of ways to go. But also, we've got to get gas quickly. Because I want to get on the road with enough light for you to see your first antelope tonight. Oh, yeah, I've never seen an antelope. So we definitely need to do that. I've been keeping an eye out.

I don't think we're quite there. Maybe 20 30 minutes and we're going to be in antelope country. [01:08:00] Perfect. Alright, man. Alright, man. Thanks for joining me. And everybody, get ready for next week's episode where we have more predictions. I don't think, yeah, next week's episode is not going to be that already.

All right. LKF 23, baby! LKF 2023! Woo!